


Safe and Sound

by Weevilo707



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Candlenights, Childhood Friends, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Holidays, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Snowed In, we got a sweet one here folks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:47:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21709972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weevilo707/pseuds/Weevilo707
Summary: Lup and Taako never had a lot of friends growing up. Hard to keep friends when you never stayed in the same place for longer than a year or so. At some point they almost stopped trying entirely. Almost. There was one exception.Barry had been that exception. The one person who continued to reach other to them as they got older, even after moving away. He'd been Lup's best friend since they were twelve years old, and now that they were finally all going to the same college they could actually see each other again. It was supposed to be perfect.Except at some point Lup had fallen in love with Barry while she wasn't looking. Even that wouldn't have been so bad, she could have just ignored that for fifty years and then eventually died. It was real fucking hard to ignore that when snowed in with Barry over winter break though, but damn if she wasn't going to try.
Relationships: Barry Bluejeans & Taako, Barry Bluejeans/Lup, Lup & Taako (The Adventure Zone)
Comments: 51
Kudos: 198





	1. Of Course

Lup was trying her best to not appear as excited as she actually was. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed or anything like that, she just didn’t want to do this whole song and dance with her brother again. She loved him, he was the one solid constant through her life and her heart, but damn if his teasing didn’t get a little old sometimes.

Even if he insisted he wasn’t actually teasing her that much, that she doth protest too much and all that junk. It wasn't that, and with anyone else she would have written it off and not thought about it twice. Taako knew her better than she knew herself sometimes though, so the fact that he was that far off the mark was a little weird.

Lup had absolutely no idea where Taako had gotten the idea that she was in love with Barry from to begin with. She swore it wasn’t true, and every knowing look Taako gave her was just way off base.

The thing was, Lup and Taako had never had a lot of friends growing up. It was kind of hard to make them and even harder to keep them moving in and out of relatives homes, and then in and out of foster homes when they ran out of family willing to pretend to give a shit. People didn’t bother to stick when you’re a kid and only in a place for maybe a year at most. Eventually they got tired of trying. They had each other, and in the end that was all they needed. Lup would say that was how it was with everyone, but there was one person who didn't fit that mold.

Barry was the one exception.

It probably helped that they met him while staying with their aunt. It was the longest either of the twins could remember staying in one place, and it was also the best by far. Even still, at twelve they were already starting to give up on the concept of trying to get to know any of the other people around them. They knew enough at that point to know that no place was going to be permanent. That sooner or later they’d get shuffled off to the next home and any tentative relationships they’d tried to develop would be cut short.

Lup had always been the more social out of the two of them though. Sure, Taako loved his time in the spotlight, but when it came to actually needing people he was quicker at cutting out everyone but her. Lup always found herself lingering just those few seconds longer, making just one more attempt to reach out, even when she didn’t realize she was doing it.

Barry had lived two doors down from their aunt, but Lup hadn’t known that when she first started talking to him. All she knew was that he was the nerdy kid who sat in front of her and Taako in school, who Lup would whisper teasing things about to her brother, just loud enough for him to definitely hear. An easy target that Lup, in all her twelve year old decision making skills, saw more as a source of amusement than a person with feelings. Definitely not a potential friend.

That changed very suddenly one day, when he went punching right through the barrier she’d begun building up around herself. Literally punching.

Lup hated social studies, because it was the only class she didn’t share with Taako. She didn’t actually mind the subject at all, in fact she liked it. Teachers were usually pretty surprised how well her and Taako did in school, how much they managed to absorb despite their constant whispering and fidgeting. They were fucking  _ smart, _ and they liked to show that off.

Except Lup didn’t care much about that if she wasn’t able to stay with her brother, at least not at that age for sure. So, Lup tended to skip her social studies class more often than not. She’d skipped that day. Honestly, she’d skipped so much she hadn’t even realized Barry was also in her social studies class. So she had no idea where he was supposed to be when she saw him in the hallway.

Wherever it was though, she figured it wasn’t caught between three older students, getting shoved around and made fun of. Sure, she’d made a fast habit of teasing Barry already, but this was  _ different.  _ She never pushed him, and the stuff she said about him she didn’t think was actually  _ bad. _ Sure, he was a nerd, and she called him out whenever he acted like one, but so were her and Taako! They just didn’t show it as much, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. It was one of the things that made Barry funny to her, and not in a bad way. She liked it.

Whoever these assholes were clearly didn't see it that way. It was obvious that they thought they were better than him because of it, and that sent Lup's blood boiling.

Needless to say, Lup wasn’t the  _ best _ at controlling her impulses at twelve. She’d gotten a hell of a lot better, but at the moment she was pissed. Without thinking twice she went up and punched the next one to put his hands on Barry in the gut, catching all of them off guard.

She’d expected it to be a one on three fight. She did hate to get in fights without Taako, but she’d accepted that fate the second she’d come stomping up in a rage.

Except when one of them tried to grab her by the hair, instead of cowering in the corner or running away like she’d expected, Barry was next to her, swinging his fist right into the asshole’s face. There was a small moment of shock from everyone, Barry seeming the most surprised of them all.

Unfortunately the moment had not lasted long, and the fight did not actually end that well for the two of them. Afterwards Lup was nursing a nasty black eye and Barry had actually managed to lose a tooth. Lup could remember it all clear as day, sitting slumped in a chair while the nurse bustled about, chastising them. She tried her best to look dejected, Barry not having to try at all from the looks of it. As soon as the nurse left to go call their guardians Lup let the grin she'd been fighting back show, turning to Barry. He still looked on the edge of a panic attack.

"That was  _ awesome," _ she said, adjusting the ice on her eye some. Barry looked at her like she was insane, which wasn't an unusual thing at this point. Lup was used to people looking at her like that, even at that age.

"Are you crazy? We're in so much trouble. What if we get suspended? Oh god, what if we get  _ expelled?" _ he asked, and Lup frowned some at that. If Barry was worried about that, then he probably wasn't hurt that bad physically, which was all that concerned her. She spent a second looking him over, the pathetic terrified look on his face, the bruises already forming and the empty gap in his mouth his tongue kept poking. After a moment she shook her head decisively.

"Nah, you won't get expelled. I don't think they'll even suspend you. It's your first offense and you're all weepy, and you didn't even throw the first punch," she said with confidence. Barry actually looked a little less worried at that, and then an expression Lup couldn't read fell over his face.

"What about you though?" he asked, and Lup scoffed at that.

"Oh, they'll  _ definitely _ suspend me. That's not even a question," she said. It really wasn't, this wasn't the first fight she'd had. The staff already didn't like her and Taako for so many reasons. This was just another excuse for them to get rid of her for a few days. To her surprise, Barry actually looked even more worried when she said that.

"But- but you were defending me. If we explain what happened they might-" he started, but Lup shook her head before he could finish.

"Nah, I mean, you can  _ try _ if you really wanna, but I doubt they'll listen. They aren't all that fond of me and Taako," she said. Barry looked hesitant at that, and it was quiet for a moment. From the other room Lup could just hear the nurse on the phone, although she had no idea if it was with her aunt or Barry's mom.

"Thanks, by the way. For helping me. I kinda thought you guys hated me," Barry mumbled after a moment, and that caught Lup's attention.

"What? No, you're great," she said, and Barry looked  _ really _ confused at that. She guessed it made sense, she never expected anyone to get her other than Taako after all. Still, she hadn't thought the gap would be that wide. She thought Barry was fun, she figured he'd get that.

Before either of them could say anything else though the door was suddenly shoved open. They could hear the nurse shouting, and instead of her coming back into the room Taako ran in.

"Who do we need to kill?" he asked immediately, looking like he'd ran all the way here. At that Lup grinned, slinging an arm around a confused Barry's shoulders and getting an equally befuddled look from her brother. It wasn't often that she could catch him off guard, and it was always a delight when she could.

"No need, we already took care of it," she said. At that the nurse came back in, snapping at Taako for not listening to her. Lup had figured that would be the start of the two of them getting suspended for this. That wasn't what happened though.

Instead, Barry started crying. He started going on about how these guys had been messing with him for so long, and he'd been too scared to say anything. Then lying, about how he had been the one to drag Lup into it, asking her to help him walk to class since they had social studies together and he was too worried to go alone. All this stuff on how it was his fault and he didn't mean for any of it to happen and to please not punish her for it.

It actually ended up working, the administration coming in at some point to dole out punishment and getting subjected to Barry's rant as well. Lup actually found herself a little speechless, and so did Taako. Neither of them could think of a time someone else had tried to protect them like that.

As far as Lup was concerned they were friends after that. She didn’t expect it to last, she knew that sooner or later her and Taako would leave, and she figured that Barry would forget about them like everyone else did. Even when they stayed a bit longer than usual, almost two whole years, nearly two years as a trio instead of a duo, eventually it came time to leave.

It actually hurt when they got the news. Their aunt's health had declined too much to keep looking after them. They were heading off to some cousin’s place half a state away. Lup had forgotten the other reason they didn’t like making friends. They never stayed, and when they actually found someone they liked it sucked having to leave them behind. And by that point, they both really fucking liked Barry. The three of them that obnoxious type of inseparable, their teachers sure those darn twins were such a bad influence on sweet, quiet Barry.

Barry was just as bad as they were though, the only difference was that he was quieter about it. Lup didn’t think they were bad influences for bringing him out of his shell. He was a damn good liar too.

None of that really mattered though, because Lup figured that’d be the end of their little trio. Even when Barry begged for their new address, assuring them that he’d write them as much as possible, that as soon as they had a phone he’d call too. Lup gave him the information, not actually thinking anything would come of it. It wasn’t that she thought Barry didn’t care, that just wasn’t how it worked. They left, and people forgot about them, and the world kept turning.

And then a week after moving into their cousin’s place they got a letter. It was the first time either of them had actually gotten any mail addressed to them, and Lup could remember reading it over and over again in stunned shock, until she had the whole damn two page document memorized.

Barry had actually remembered them.

They kept up with the letters for a while, until Lup and Taako had gotten their first jobs and were able to afford phones of their own. After that texting and calling became a pretty regular thing. Each call or message a pleasant reminder, sending a shadow of that same warm delight that had ran through her as when she’d received that very first letter.

Barry had never forgotten them. Lup had reached out, and even though it would have been easier, Barry had bothered to reach back. To continue to bridge that gap even when he didn’t have to, to the point where Lup no longer worried that one day he would disappear. A simple assurance that he would be there, just like she knew Taako would always be there.

Despite that though, neither of them had actually  _ seen _ Barry since they had first moved away. Sure, they had seen pictures, did the occasional video call later on, but visiting just wasn’t an option. Lup and Taako still hadn’t ever managed to stay in a single place long enough to know if it was worth trying to visit, and it wasn’t like any of them had the money anyway. Sure, Barry certainly had a more stable life than they had, but being raised by a single widow didn’t exactly spell for a lot of extra spending money.

But that was going to change today, after what was damn near a fucking decade. Lup and Taako weren’t helpless kids getting shuffled around by the whims of the system anymore. They could finally decide where  _ they _ wanted to go.

And where they wanted to go, to absolutely no surprise to anyone who actually knew shit about them, was to college. They sure as hell were smart enough, and a story like theirs did wonders for the scholarship money.

There was no reason not to talk to Barry about it. He had become a stable pillar in their lives, one of the very few, so of course they included him in on it. Of course all three of them had decided without much hesitation to try and get into the same college. And of course, once they had settled on a place they all got in with fucking flying colors.

So yeah, Lup was pretty damn excited about today. She was going to get to see her best friend, the one person she considered a constant in her life other than Taako, for the first time since she was thirteen years old. Of course she was excited. She knew Taako was just as excited as she was, Barry was his best friend too.

The difference was  _ she _ hadn’t been giving Taako any knowing smirks or teasing jabs for the past two weeks. She hadn’t somehow gotten it into her head years ago that her brother was in love with Barry and refused to let the idea go.

Somewhere along the line Taako had though, somehow managing to insist she had feelings for Barry without ever actually  _ saying _ that’s what he was doing. It definitely was though, and no matter what Taako insisted she wasn’t projecting and she certainly didn’t actually have feelings for him. He was just her best friend in the whole damn world.

Lup tried to push all those thoughts to the back of her mind for now though. She wasn’t letting anything dumb like that ruin this, not able to wipe the grin from her face as her and Taako made their way to the chosen meeting place. It was just outside of the campus coffee shop, seeming a pretty easy place to find and a decent enough area to sit at and catch up.

“We said two right?” Lup asked as they reached the area, heading over to the low wall out front of the coffee shop and sitting down. Taako followed along right beside her, nodding as he pulled out his phone.

“Yes, give the nerd five minutes,” he said, which was fair. It had literally just turned two, and they weren’t usually as punctual as this.

“Barry isn’t typically late though,” she said, which was something she knew despite not having met the guy in nine years. In response Taako held his phone up to her face, displaying a clock that still said 2:00pm on the dot.

“That would be because he’s not,” he said, which was true but it didn’t feel that way. As Lup was pouting at the time she saw an incoming text flash across his screen at the same time she felt her own phone buzz in her pocket. Taako turned it around to actually read it, so Lup pulled her's out. She didn’t have to check to know it was Barry.

Reading the message Lup couldn’t help but snort, and she could feel a stupid, fond smile spread across her face.

“Fucking dork,” she said, rolling her eyes. It read that he’d be a few minutes late. He spent ten minutes looking for his shoes for them to be under his coat that accidentally fell on the floor.

“He’d probably let you,” Taako said, not looking at her as he was occupied on his phone. Instead of justifying that with a response, Lup simply reached out and pushed him off the fucking wall. He made a satisfying squawk as he went over, and Lup did not feel sorry for him in the least as he pulled himself back up. “Yeah okay, I deserved that one,” he said as he sat back down, and Lup just nodded.

It honestly wasn’t that much longer when Lup finally caught sight of Barry coming around a corner a few buildings down. He looked like he’d been running most of the way here, which wasn’t much of a surprise. Immediately Lup felt a smile start to spread across her face as she stood up.

“Found our nerd,” she said brightly, catching Taako’s attention. As soon as Barry caught sight of them Lup watched his face shift from mild panic to a delighted, still somewhat nervous grin, his pace picking up despite how tired he already looked. When he finally stopped in front of them he almost doubled over panting, a grin still plastered all over his face.

“Sorry about- sorry to keep you guys waiting. Swear I almost just came here barefoot,” he said, and it wasn’t like they didn’t talk on the phone all the time. Lup knew what he sounded like. Despite that, there was something about hearing him without the distortion of the phone or voice call, of seeing him clear as day in front of her, that made her chest feel full.

Fucking hell she missed him.

“We appreciate you  _ not _ doing that my dude,” Taako said, and despite his attempt at appearing casual Lup could hear the smile in his voice as well.

Before any of them could say another word Lup closed the distance between them, wrapping Barry up in as big of a hug as she could. It seemed to catch him off guard, it taking a moment before he actually responded and hugged her back. When she pulled back she was definitely grinning from ear to ear.

“So, you’re still a huge dork, good to know,” she said, and Barry laughed at that.

“You guys are still pretty good at hiding what big nerds you are, also good to know,” he said, and it was nice. Knowing that despite how long it had been since they’d actually seen each other it didn’t actually  _ feel _ like it. That somehow all of them fell back into place like they’d never left each others lives, and in a way they really hadn’t.

They managed to corral Taako into a hug after that, despite her brother’s half-hearted protests. After that they headed into the coffee shop. They had to force Barry to get almond milk in his drink, and Lup could barely remember her own as they all sat and talked. They were definitely too loud for the other people in there, but she couldn’t really give a fuck.

Like, Lup knew she missed Barry. She was deeply aware of this fact in the pages of letters they’d wrote each other as kids, in the way she’d fallen asleep on the phone talking to him late into the night, in how she’d spring up to immediately answer every text he sent. Of course she knew she missed him.

Somehow though, she didn’t realize just how much until he was in front of her again. Until she saw him laughing so hard at something dumb Taako said that he snorted ice coffee out of his nose and had his face full of napkins for the next five minutes.

When he finished his drink, he tossed the empty plastic cup at Taako’s head in retribution, and Lup suddenly found herself fighting back the urge to reach over and pull his smug, adorable face into a kiss.

Fuck.

Taako might have been right after all.

She might have just the tiniest little crush on Barry. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yearly candlenights fic here we are! decided to go with a Twist this year and do some good good blupjeans fluff, because i love these nerds and do not write nearly enough of them. some of y'all might have seen the post about this on my tumblr, which is [here](https://kravkalackin.tumblr.com/) because I never promote it enough on my fics. I'm already having a lot of fun with this one. 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!


	2. Have It Bad

The bad thing about the first semester of freshman year of college was that it was definitely a little overwhelming. Lup did not quite have as much of an idea of what she was doing as she pretended to, and some of that was her own fault. She might have been a little overzealous when picking her classes, might have signed up for one or two more than she strictly needed to.

As tempting as the idea of taking as many classes as she could and getting through school as fast as possible had been when she thought of it, Lup was pretty damn sure she’d learned her lesson. She was just thankful she’d done it with her early classes, the general education classes that weren’t super vital in the grand scheme of things.

The  _ really _ bad thing about all of this was that Lup was not getting anywhere near as much time to hang out with Barry as she hoped. Sure, they still texted each other as much as they could, and they hung out in each others dorms whenever they got the chance. It was still few and far between with how all three of their schedules ended up being though, which was more of a bummer than Lup would admit. Like, she was admitting it was a huge bummer, but she was maybe a bit more upset about it than she let on.

The one good thing about being busy all the time and not being able to see Barry as much was that she got to ignore any particular revelations she had about her own feelings as much as humanly possible. Just shove that one away in the old brain basement and throw away the key.

Well, it didn’t quite work like that, but she was damn well trying. And being busy did help, even if it made every time she did get to hang out with Barry that much more jarring in the way it sharply threw her feelings back into her face.

There wasn’t really anything she could do about any of that now though. She couldn’t say anything to him, they’d only just managed to reconnect, even if to Lup it felt like they never disconnected in the first place. Even if that wasn’t the case, Barry had never- he hadn’t given her any reason to believe he felt the same way. Of course she knew he cared about her, they were best friends. But Barry was also best friends with Taako, and as far as she could tell didn’t intend to move any further than that with either of them.

So Lup tried to push all of that to the back of her mind for now. She had school work to focus on, and when she wasn’t she was more than satisfied getting to hang out with her friend. That was probably the crux of it all. She was so fucking happy to have Barry back in her life. She wasn’t going to go ruining it out of the gate by trying to push too far too fast. Lup wasn’t normally so hesitant, but this was the longest friendship she’d had in her life. She wasn’t going to fuck that up.

The only other good thing to come from being nonstop busy for the whole damn semester was that before Lup could even comprehend what was doing on it was over. Part of that was terrible, because she turned around the then there were midterms and as soon as she got gone with those she tried to take a nap and finals were happening. Or at least, that was how it felt like. She couldn’t say she was a fan, but by the time the last final was over she was relieved and ready for a goddamn break.

As soon as she was back in her dorm after the last final she went straight to the couch and flopped down on it in a heap. The fact that Taako was already laying there was of no concern to her, even when he attempted to push her off onto the floor. It didn’t work, Lup putting her full weight into being as horizontal as possible. After a few moments of grumbling Taako gave up, slumping back and accepting his fate as an extra cushion.

“It’s like that huh?” he said, and Lup nodded, eventually adjusting so that she wasn’t quite crushing her brother as much.

“I’m never taking that many classes at once again. That was a mistake,” she said, and Taako nodded in agreement. He’d only taken one less than her, which was still more than they probably should have. They’d both already made their schedules for next semester, and they had learned their lessons thorough enough.

“How’d Barold hold up?” Taako asked, which was a good question. Lup knew that he’d also had his last final today, and when she glanced at the clock she figured he had to be done by now. Reaching around, she managed to get her phone out of her pocket to call him. It only rang once before he picked up.

“You alive Bear?” she asked, switching it over to speaker phone so that she wouldn’t have to bother holding it up to her ear and so that Taako could chime in as well.

“I’m alive. You guys good?” he asked, and the two of them groaned simultaneously. She could hear Barry laugh on the other end of the line, which sent those damn flutters all in her stomach again. Those kept happening more and more often lately. She liked being able to make him laugh. It wasn’t anything new, and she supposed neither was the fluttering in her heart and stomach either. She just never thought about what it all meant before.

“Yeah, we survived. Barely,” Lup said after a moment, shifting around so that she was laying with her head up on the arm of the couch and her legs stretched across Taako. “Excited to stay in and not leave this shitty dorm for the next two weeks,” she said, and Taako made a noise of agreement at that. She expected Barry’s response to be one of affirmation, so she was a little surprised when he was quiet for a moment.

“Wait, you guys are staying at the dorms over break?” he asked, like the idea hadn’t occurred to him until that moment.

“Yeah my dude, not really any other option,” Taako supplied, which was true. Lup nodded in agreement, moving the phone a little closer to her so that Barry wouldn’t have a hard time hearing the two of them.

“Hey, it’s not the best, but it’s sure as fuck better than having to stay at any shitty relatives or whatever. We can actually do whatever we want here,” Lup added, not wanting Barry to be worried. Sure, staying at the dorms wasn’t exactly going to be glitzy, but they’d definitely lived in worse before. They could make it work. Lup was pretty sure they could even make it fun, between the two of them.

“I guess so,” Barry said, still sounding a little hesitant. Lup couldn’t exactly be surprised by that, Barry tended to worry. It would have annoyed her from most people, but it was clear that he wasn’t worried because he thought they couldn’t handle something. He just didn’t want them to have to in the first place. It was sweet.

God, how did she not realize how far gone she was sooner? Was she really that far in denial before she actually managed to see him?

“In that case, maybe I could like, stop on by sometime this week. It’s been real busy with finals and everything. We haven’t gotten to really hang out lately,” Barry added after a moment.

“You just want an excuse to come over and steal some of our food again, don’t you?” Taako said, and Lup snorted when Barry laughed on the other end of the line.

“That’s not the whole reason, but I can’t say it’s a downside either,” he said, and Lup could see Taako grinning too now.

The three of them ended up talking for a bit longer, but it was obvious they were all still pretty damn dead from finals. Barry made sure one last time that it was cool for him to head over to their place during the break, and Lup and Taako both assured him he could come over whenever. Lup honestly couldn’t imagine a time when he wouldn’t be welcome.

The next few days weren’t particularly extravagant. Mostly her and Taako spent it lazing around the dorm, grateful for the quiet of everyone else being away for break. It was cold as fuck in the dorm, they definitely weren’t busting out the big bucks on the heating when everyone who could had gone home for the break, and it was getting colder. It was nothing they couldn’t handle though, spending a lot of the time under blankets or cooking in the heat of the kitchen.

By day three though Lup was definitely starting to feel a little antsy, the quiet and lack of people other than Taako getting to her a little. It wasn’t that being around Taako all the time was any sort of problem, she was just a bit more social than her brother. Not even hearing other people around made her feel isolated.

She was real thankful that Barry had plans to come over today. That was the only reason she was so excited to see him.

Well, not the  _ only _ reason. She was trying to ignore the other reasons though. If she didn’t think about them they couldn’t rear their ugly heads and make things awkward. She was just going to have a fun day with her best friend and her brother and all her feelings were going to stay locked in her chest until she died.

“Oh damn. Hey Lulu, you wanna text Barold and ask if he’s still planning on coming?” Taako asked, looking out the blinds with a slight frown.

“What, why wouldn’t he be coming?” Lup asked, immediately rushing over to see what was the matter. She tried to ignore the obvious disappointment in her voice. She could guess it was plastered all over her face though. She managed to move up next to Taako and see what the issue was before he could get a chance to actually say anything. Her heart sunk a little at the sight, a soft, fresh coat of snow covering the ground outside.

“It snowed last night? Seriously? No wonder it’s been so fucking freezing around here,” she grumbled, trying to sound more annoyed than upset. Taako nodded, pulling away from the window.

“Guess so. You want me to check in on Barold?” he asked, and Lup shook her head, drawing away from the window as well.

“No, I’ll just call him,” she said, pulling out her phone. Taako seemed fine with that, going and wrapping himself up in another blanket, which Lup couldn’t blame him for. Picking Barry’s contact, Lup started pacing around as she waited for him to pick up. She didn’t actually have to wait that long, she almost never did with Barry.

“Hey, what’s up?” Barry asked, and he sounded chipper enough. Maybe he hadn’t noticed the weather yet.

“You look outside yet today babe?” Lup asked back, and she told herself it wasn’t weird. She called everyone she cared about babe. She certainly called Barry it before she had feelings for him. Or well, before she realized she did at the very least. It still counted, so there was no reason to stop calling him the petname now.

“Uh, not really?” Barry said, and Lup could guess what he was doing when she heard a soft noise of annoyance come from him a few seconds later. “Aw shit, seriously?” he said, and Lup nodded even though he couldn’t see her.

“Yeah, we were wondering if you still wanted to risk heading over here today or not. It’s chill if you’re not cool with it,” Lup said, despite how much she really wanted him to come despite the whether. It didn’t look too bad out yet, and she was sure the busier roads had to be in better shape than the barely used one leading up to their dorm. Still, the last thing she wanted was for Barry to put himself in danger to get here.

“No, no I’m still gonna come. Of course I’ll be there,” Barry said, and as relieved as Lup was to hear him say that she found herself instantly worried.

“Are you sure? You know we’d vastly prefer seeing you alive, right?” Lup asked, and she could hear Barry chuckle a little on the other end of the line at that.

“I know, and don’t worry. I promise I’ll be careful, it’s not a long drive,” he tried to assure her. Lup guessed that was true, and she couldn’t be surprised that Barry was a careful driver. She hadn’t gotten the chance to get in a car with him yet, although that definitely needed to change as soon as possible. Still, she could image him driving like a little old lady.

“Alright, just stay safe. Would have for anything to happen to that beautiful body of yours,” Lup said, the last part slipping out mostly as a joke. Mostly. Definitely not entirely, but no one else needed to know that.

“That’s uh- yep, will uh, will do,” Barry managed to stammer out, and Lup could feel the stupid smittened grin on her face.

“Pfft, see you soon nerd,” she said, her voice definitely a little softer than she intended.

“See ya Lup,” Barry said, hanging up afterwards. Lup spent a few seconds longer than she strictly needed to standing there smiling like an idiot. She was still a little caught off guard by how many emotions Barry so easily managed to make her feel without even trying. He was just himself, and somehow that was the best thing Lup had ever seen.

When she turned around Taako was standing there, wrapped up in a quilt with an equally stupid and much more smug smile on his own face.

“His beautiful body?” he asked, sounding incredulous and definitely not holding back his laughter as well as he was trying to. The worst part was Lup couldn’t even shrug it off anymore. She could feel her face heating up despite the chill in the air around them.

“Shut up, I’m allowed to compliment my friends, aren’t I?” she snapped, storming off past Taako as he fully broke out in laughter at that. God, Lup was going to have to find some way to get back at him for figuring out her own feelings before her. She hadn’t told him yet that he was right, because she still wasn’t sure if she wanted to admit that out loud or not yet. She didn’t want to make things weird. If she told Taako that this was real, that this was something serious and not a funny joke for him to tease her about that would change everything. She wasn’t sure if she was ready for something like that yet.

“Of course, of course,” Taako said, still smiling like a dumbass. Thankfully he didn’t seem to feel the need to tease her anymore about that, not bringing it up again. Lup tried to ignore it too, letting him know that Barry was still planning on trying to come over. Taako seemed as concerned as she was, and it was kind of obvious they were both getting a little antsy as the time went on. Lup found herself continuing to look out the window over and over again, trying to figure out how long was him driving slow to be careful and if it was starting to edge into too long and if they should be concerned.

Before Lup could start to get too paranoid and give in to trying to call him again she saw a car ride up to the dorms. An immediate rush of relief flooded through her body as she saw Barry step out, followed by a snort of laughter as she saw him immediately almost slip and have to catch himself on the car door.

“Good news, he didn’t die,” Lup announced to her brother, who definitely looked a little relieved as well. It wasn’t very long after that the two heard knocking on the door. Lup threw a pillow at Taako until he went and let Barry in, since he was closer.

Also, her immediate reaction had been to jump up, let him in and give him a hug, which was probably a little too much after what Taako had already seen today. She might not have a lot of plausible deniability left, but she wanted to at least make an attempt at keeping whatever shreds remained.

“Congrats on successfully getting here in one piece Barold,” Taako said, brushing snow out of his hair in a way that was more bothersome than effective. Barry chuckled, kicking off his snow covered boots and shrugging off his coat.

“I said it’d be fine. There was no one else on the road for me to crash into, so I could be in any lane I wanted, no worries,” Barry said, in such a casual way that anyone else would have thought he was being serious. Lup could hear most of a joke in there though, thankfully.

“Well, let’s maybe not try that one again anytime soon if we can help it,” she still said. With that they started just sort of chilling, sitting around and talking for a bit. It was late enough but also early enough in the day still that Taako could make the excuse for brunch, so they ended up eating pretty soon after Barry arrived. They didn’t have any plans for how long Barry was planning to stay, but as the day passed Lup glanced out the window from time to time. At some point after brunch it had started snowing again. Just light flurries at first, which had developed into a thicker, more constant snow by around two.

By the time Barry finally caught sight of what was going on outside he winced and Lup couldn’t blame him. It didn’t look like it was planning on letting up anytime soon.

“Shit uh, you guys think it’ll be clear for me to head back home tonight?” he asked, sounding like he already knew the answer.

“I’d say probably a negative on that Barold,” Taako said, Lup nodding in agreement. Barry sighed, seeming to debate with himself for a moment before pulling out his phone.

“I should call my mom and let her know I’ll be spending the night here then, if that’s cool with you guys,” he said. That last past definitely seemed a bit unnecessary to Lup, who scoffed and waved away the concern.

“No, we’d much rather you risk life and limb driving on cold icy roads in the dark. Yes it’s fine if you stay here, you can  _ try _ to leave but I promise you won’t get more than a few steps out that door,” she said. Barry actually looked a little relieved at that, standing up and starting to get to his mom’s number.

“Alright alright, point made. I’ll let her know,” he said, wandering off a little to actually call her. Once he was out of earshot Taako leaned in a bit closer to her, whispering for some reason.

“You good?” he asked, and Lup raised an eyebrow at that.

“Yeah, of course I am? Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked back, also whispering since Taako had started off the conversation that way. In response Taako shrugged, leaning back into the couch some.

“Just checking,” he said. Lup stared at him like he was insane until Barry came back, which was only a few seconds really. She only stopped once he was back in the room because he didn’t want him asking what was going on and for Taako to be weird about it or something.

“She’s alright, also she says you two both have to come over as soon as possible since she hasn’t seen you guys since we were little,” Barry said, and Lup couldn’t help but smile a little bit at that. She remembered Barry’s mom, she was a nice lady. They’d spent a lot of time over at her house, especially once their aunt’s health had started to decline. Barry had told her only about a year or so ago that apparently she’d tried talking to CPS to see if she could adopt the two of them when it became apparent that their aunt couldn’t handle it anymore. Unfortunately it didn’t pan out, it determined that the two of them would have been too much for a older single mother.

The fact that she tried though was still way more than Taako or Lup had ever asked or expected. They really did need to get over to her house sometime and thank her in some way.

The weather didn’t let up for the rest of the day, which was unsurprising. It wasn’t terribly deep from the looks of it, but still not best to drive in until it got plowed. By the time it was getting late it was at the very least a pretty picture outside, the flakes coming down gently now.

“So, it’s pretty damn cold but we got a couple extra blankets for you to take the couch, unless you’d rather bunk with somebody of course,” Taako said, dumping a pillow and said blankets down for Barry. Lup definitely caught the look he gave her at that second suggestion, shooting him a glare.

“I take it that means you’re offering bro?” she said, trying to sound joking but probably coming out a bit more snappy than she intended. Barry chuckled, sounding a little nervous as he quickly shook his head.

“No that’s not- the couch is fine guys,” he said, which was pretty much what Lup had expected. It didn’t take long after that to fix everything up, and it was late enough that soon afterwards they all went to their individual rooms to sleep.

It took a while before Lup actually managed to get some rest though. She wasn’t intentionally trying to stay up. In fact, she spent most of that time lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling despite how tired she was getting.

She kept thinking about how much she still wanted to talk to Barry. About how nice it would be to fall asleep together, like they used to when talking on the phone for hours until they both passed out and Taako would have to hang up for her. That, except with him really there this time. He was right down the hall too, she could if she wanted to. She really fucking wanted to too.

Despite that though she managed to resist the urge, instead staring up at the ceiling and trying her best to banish those thoughts from her mind.

God, she really did have it fucking bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're gonna start getting into the Cozy real soon. I have so much fun writing blupjeans i don't know why i don't do it more often, because they're good ridiculous nerds. 
> 
> thank y'all for reading and i hope you enjoy!


	3. Plans

When Lup woke up the next day it was a bit later than she usually rose. Only about half of that was because of how late she’d unintentionally stayed up the night before, the other half was because of how damn cold it had gotten over night. The heat was technically still on in the dorms from what she could tell, for whatever good it actually did. Which wasn’t much from the feel of it.

So, Lup spent quite a long time under her blanket even after waking up, taking a while to actually convince herself to get up and get food. Eventually she got hungry enough and wrapped herself up in her blanket as much as possible, rolling out of bed and making her way towards the shitty dorm kitchen. When she got out there Barry was already up and awake, although Taako was still nowhere to be seen. Barry was standing by the window, peaking out through the blinds with a frown on his face.

“How bad it look?” Lup asked, and she hadn’t been trying to sneak up on him, but she guessed she was moving quieter than she intended. Barry jolted slightly, taking only a second to get himself back together and give one last glance out the window before turning back to her.

“Not as bad as I was afraid I guess? It looks like the roads have been cleared a little, but I don’t think it’d be like, safe to try and make the drive all the way back to my mom’s place. Especially since I have no idea if they’ve gotten everything all the way there,” he said, which made sense. Lup supposed she should feel kind of bad about this, Barry probably wanted to spend most of his break at his nice warm house with his family instead of in their crummy dorm. She  _ should _ have felt bad, and she did on some level, but she couldn’t actually complain that much about the idea of him staying around even longer.

“Sorry about all this. Probably would have been better if you stayed home,” Lup still said, because she did at least feel guilty about putting him through this, even if she was enjoying the company. Barry shook his head quickly though.

“What? No it’s fine, it’s nice getting to hang out again,” he said, and as far as Lup could tell he was being totally sincere. It was still a little wild to her getting to see again just how genuine of a person he tended to be. Her and Taako, as close as they were, didn’t tend to do sincerity often. It was certainly there, when shit was rough or when something needed to be said they could both drop their guards and be there for each other, it just didn’t happen often. Barry was like this all the time. It was kind of fascinating to watch.

“Well, even still, gonna see if we can at least get something good to eat to make up for the rest of this bullshit,” she said, and Barry grinned a little at that and nodded. With that Lup headed off into the kitchen, Barry following along after her. He didn’t move to help, but Lup didn’t take that as rude so much as Barry knowing how they were. Lup didn’t mind him helping out, but only when her or Taako had given him a specific task. She couldn’t do that until she figured out what she was going to cook.

Lup found herself frowning though as she started looking through the kitchen. It wasn’t that they didn’t have food, but they really hadn’t stocked up for a blizzard or anything. She wouldn’t even count this as a blizzard yet, but also they had one more person around than they thought they would during break. Her mind instantly started working to try and figure out how she could make the food stretch as long as possible while also managing to show off a little for Barry. Sure, that was part wasn’t essential, but she wasn’t anxious enough about the food yet to throw out the idea completely.

It was around then that Taako finally came out of his room as well, stopping to take a quick look out the window before heading over to the two of them in the kitchen. He also looked tired and cold, wrapped up in a blanket and not looking very pleased. His expression shifted from grumpy to slightly worried as he saw her searching through the cabinets.

They had both been pretty food anxious when they were younger, and sure it was better now but it still reared its head from time to time. Lup quickly gave up on looking around for something special to make and pulled out some eggs.

“How we doing on food?” Taako asked, moving around her as she got out a pan to start looking through the fridge himself.

“We’ll be fine,” she assured him. It was true, but she couldn’t be too surprised when he made a somewhat unhappy sound as he looked at their options.

“Yeah, guess so,” he said, not sounding like he believed it all that much. He didn’t say anything else about it though, starting to help her cook instead. From the stool at the counter Barry watched them, and Lup really wasn’t doing anything extravagant. She was cooking how she always would, whether or not she had an audience. Maybe she flipped her eggs with a little more pizazz than was strictly needed, but that was just how her and Taako operated.

Breakfast was nice though, even if it didn’t end up being as fancy as Lup had maybe wanted to try at the beginning. She guessed there would be time for that sort of stuff later, when they weren’t all snowed in.

She could tell that there was something on Taako’s mind as they ate. If she had to guess, something had been on his mind for a little while, but she couldn’t quite figure out what it was. It usually wasn’t hard for her to read Taako, but there was definitely something going on with him that he was trying to keep from her. That much she could tell, even if there wasn’t anything else.

“I think I’m gonna see if I can try and run to the store while the snow’s let up,” he said after a moment, poking at his phone some. When Lup glanced down he had a weather app up, which made sense. Looking out the window there wasn’t anything coming down at the moment either.

“Are you sure? We should be good,” she said, and sure, it definitely didn’t look like the worst weather they’d ever had out there. She still wasn’t thrilled at the idea of Taako going out in it, even if the store wasn’t actually that far at all. It was just down the street from their campus, in easy reach of all the college kids.

“Yeah, it’ll just be a minute. Gonna grab some more essentials to be safe,” he said, already getting up from the table and starting to head back to his room. Lup stood up after him, not sure what the fuck Taako’s plan was but positive as hell that he had one. 

“We can come with you,” she said, and when Taako turned back to look at her he had a  _ look _ on his face. A look that was more confident than it had any right to be.

“Lup. It’s  _ fine. _ I’ll just be a few minutes, you and Barry chill for a bit,” he said, before going and disappearing into his room, presumably to get dressed. Lup stared after him for a moment, suddenly starting to get an inkling of what it was Taako was planning. She couldn’t say she was super thrilled about it either.

“Everything okay?” Barry asked, and Lup very quickly nodded, trying her best to not show any sense of being flustered.

“Yeah, of course everything is fine,” she said, and it was kind of hard to tell what Barry was thinking. It wasn’t long at all before Taako came back out of his room again, bundled up in some of his warmest clothes. He had a bright smile on his face as he came out, his phone still in his hand as he headed straight to the door.

“Alright, should be right back! Talk to you all later, try not to get up to anything while I’m gone,” he said, winking at them and rushing out of the dorm before either of them could get a word in. Lup knew what Taako was implying and had to school her face to keep it from turning red.

“Uh, that was a little weird, right? I’m not remembering you guys wrong, that was kinda odd for Taako, yes?” Barry asked, and Lup nodded, picking up her plate from breakfast and taking it over to the sink.

“Oh yeah, he’s definitely got some sort of ulterior motive,” Lup agreed. Barry quickly moved to start helping her clean up, and at least he was looking more amused than anything at Taako’s antics.

“Well uh, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what it is he’s planning,” he said, and Lup nodded in agreement.

“Yep, I’m sure whatever it is will blow up in his face spectacularly,” she said with confidence. Barry chuckled at that, and Lup moved to the living room, sitting down with him on the couch. “In any case, why don’t we try not to freeze and see if there’s anything interesting on tv to make fun of,” she added. Barry nodded in agreement, and they spent the next little bit of an hour flipping through channels and making fun of the various shows together. After like thirty minutes Lup was starting to get a little worried, glancing back out the window every so often. Snow was starting to come down again, and it didn’t look hard but she didn’t like the idea of Taako being stuck out there if it started to get worse.

It was almost forty minutes after he left that Lup’s phone started to ring.

“What’s up bro?” she asked immediately, answering without even having to look at the caller ID.

“So, good news and bad news,” Taako said, and Lup didn’t like the sound of that. He didn’t sound terribly upset though, but that wasn’t the problem really. He sounded way too pleased for there to be anything he would consider bad news, which meant only she would consider it bad.

“Bad news first,” she said, and she could see that Barry was watching her with concern now. Debating for half a second she took the phone away from her ear and put it to speaker. “Also, you’re on speaker now,” she added.

“Alright, hey Barold. So, like I was saying, good news and bad news. Bad news, snow was a bit more than anticipated. Uuuh, and if y’all haven’t noticed it’s going again, so yeah there’s that,” he said. That was about what Lup expected, nodding as she frowned at the phone.

“We noticed,” she supplied helpfully.

“Right, so I’m a little ya know, stuck. But good news! I managed to bum a place to chill with some dude in my accounting class,” he added, and Lup raised an eyebrow at that. She kinda figured that he’d try and hang at Merle’s or Magnus’s place. She had a sneaking suspicious that this whole thing was a plan to get her alone with Barry, so she thought he would have a place set up to stay.

“What dude?” she asked, more than a little curious at this point.

“Uh, I don’t think you met him. He’s chill, name’s Kravitz,” Taako said in a tone of voice that was definitely a little too casual. Lup was starting to think that maybe she was a bit off about Taako’s reasons for leaving.

“Wait, Kravitz who?” Barry asked with obvious intrigue, which Lup didn’t expect. It also seemed to take Taako by surprise, her brother taking a moment before speaking.

“Reaper? Goth as fuck name, am I right?” Taako said, and Lup could see the realization on Barry’s face at that. She couldn’t say exactly what he was realizing, but something had certainly just dawned on him. He clearly knew the dude Taako was staying with, at any rate.

“Oh, okay that makes sense. Yeah I know him, he was in my criminology class. Well, have fun being snowed in over there I guess,” Barry said, and Lup felt somewhat better with that. At least Barry also knew this guy and didn’t seem instantly worried about Taako being stuck with him. Sure, she was well aware that her brother could handle himself, but it was still nice to have the extra assurance.

“Right back at ya both, later,” Taako said, and Lup said a quick goodbye before hanging up. When she looked back over at Barry he leaned back into the couch a bit more.

“Kravitz is like, a ridiculously good looking dude. Kind of an asshole but not in a bad way, definitely Taako’s type,” he said with a shrug, and Lup burst out laughing.

“Of fucking course! God, I can’t believe that jackass abandoned up to get snowed in with his crush, what a dork,” she said with a grin. She felt a little ashamed that she hadn’t realized Taako had been crushing on some dude until now, usually she was more on top of that kind of stuff. Lord knew Taako had her crush pegged before she even realized what was going on. Still, she guessed she could blame it on the busy schedule and being a bit preoccupied with her own internal panic.

“You think he planned it?” Barry asked, and Lup nodded emphatically, still snickering.

“Oh absolutely. You saw how weird he was being when he left, practically ran out the damn door,” she said, and Barry looked amused as he nodded.

“Yeah, you’re not wrong there,” he said. Lup shifted, moving so that she was leaning with her back against the armrest, swinging her legs up so that her feet were resting in Barry’s lap. He seemed surprised for a few seconds before quickly recovering, and Lup told herself it wasn’t weird. She was like this with everyone and she wasn’t going to pull away from her best friend because of dumb feelings she was keeping to herself.

Especially not right now, when they had such an important topic to discuss.

“God, I am never gonna stop giving Taako shit over this. Quick, tell me everything you know about this Kravitz guy,” she said, a large grin on her face. Barry snorted at that, any nervousness that had been there a second before leaving him.

“I’d almost feel bad about this, except Taako promised us food and that’s definitely not happening now so nevermind,” he said, and Lup's grin widened even more at that. She watched as he seemed to think for a moment before continuing. “Like I said, definitely a bit of an asshole, but seems like a genuinely good guy underneath? Seems pretty easy to fluster. Not exactly my type but definitely hot. I’m pretty sure he’s faking his accent,” he said. The only reason Lup’s brain didn’t get hung up on what  _ was _ Barry’s type then was the absolute bombshell of the last thing he said.

“He has a  _ fake accent?” _ she asked, and Barry was smiling a little as he nodded.

“There’s no way it’s real, yeah. It’s like, a bad British accent? Or at least I’m pretty sure he’s trying for British? Sometimes it slips pretty cockney,” he explained, and Lup swore she had stars in her eyes. She was gonna have to drill the  _ fuck _ out of Taako when he got back.

“God, babe this is the best fucking thing I’ve heard all week,” she said.

They ended up talking about that for a while, until the conversation naturally started to drift to other things. Talking about Kravitz shifting to talking about the class Barry had shared with him, which moved to talking about their classes and the semester in general. That conversation abruptly changed when Barry noticed the snow out the window behind Lup’s head. It was coming down hard now, the snowflakes large and clumped together.

It was quiet for a moment as Lup twisted around to look out the window, the two of them just staring at the snow as it came down.

“Remember when we got snowed in like this when we were kids?” Barry asked. Lup didn’t have to think very hard to know exactly what he was talking about, nodding as she turned back around. Her legs weren’t resting on Barry’s anymore, and she kind of missed the contact.

“Fuck yeah, we were out of school for like a week, it was great,” she said. She’d muted the TV when Taako had called, and neither of them had moved to put the sound back on yet, content to just sit and talk in the quiet of the storm. When she glanced at the screen now she had no idea what was on, some sort of talk show from the looks of it.

“You guys spent most of it at my house, I think that was right after my mom got the pull out couch,” Barry said, and Lup nodded. She remembered a lot of nights on that pull out couch, Barry coming down and staying up with her and Taako well past when they were all supposed to be asleep.

“It was… quiet after you guys left,” Barry added after a moment, a softness to his voice that bordered on sadness. It left a lump in Lup’s throat that almost made her feel like she was choking when she tried to speak, and she couldn’t even properly explain why.

“I wonder what Taako’s up to now,” she finally managed to say. That wasn’t what she’d been trying to say in the slightest but it was what came out anyway. For some reason changing the subject seemed safer than trying to continue down that topic. It wasn’t that she didn’t like reminiscing with Barry, because she did. She probably liked it a little too much.

“Either making a fool of himself by asking too many questions about Kravitz’s accent or they’re already making out for warmth,” Barry said, not seeming bothered at all by the sudden subject change. Lup wouldn’t have even blamed him for being annoyed by her, but he didn’t seem to miss a beat, and she found herself laughing at his answer.

“God, I don’t know which is worse,” she said with a grin.

It wasn’t too much later that they both ended up getting hungry enough to make some lunch. Lup found herself fruitlessly trying to mess with the useless thermostat in the dorm as she waited for the soup she’d thrown on to get done. It was definitely nice warm soup weather. By the time the food had finished she was pretty sure she’d made absolutely no progress with the thermos.

“I don’t get why they even put these damn things in the dorm rooms other than to taunt you,” Lup said, finally leaving the thermostat alone to go serve up the soup. Barry gave her a sympathetic smile as he took his bowl.

“Maybe after we eat we can try unscrewing the casing and see if there’s anything we can change by going straight to the hardware,” he said, and Lup smiled a little at that, already loving the idea.

“Always knew there was a reason we kept you around all these years,” she joked. Barry looked like he was going to say something in return, but then he took a bite of soup. Lup felt extremely satisfied with the way his face immediately lit up. 

“Shit. Like, I knew conceptually that you guys got better at cooking as you got older, but damn. This is incredible Lup,” he said, and she felt a very smug smile start to form on her face at the praise. She hadn’t even been going out of her way to try and impress him, but she supposed with skills like hers that wasn’t necessary.

“There’s a big difference between knowing and experiencing,” she said, starting on her own bowl. Barry nodded in agreement at that, very quickly shoveling more soup into his mouth. It was stupidly endearing and Lup swore she wasn’t staring as she ate. Barry just happened to be in the way of where she was looking, and she couldn’t bother to look around him.

No matter what she was doing, it was suddenly interrupted when a particularly nasty sounding gust of wind blew outside, followed shortly by the lights in the dorm shutting off all at once without notice. It was still midday, so it was light enough for Lup to see the slow dawning look of realization and dread spreading on Barry’s face, which surely matched her own.

“Fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this fic is gonna probably extend a little bit past the candlenights season, due to me spending a lot of this month finishing up one of my other fics. The good news is candlenights season is as long as you want it to be so here we are. Now that the other fic is done though gonna try and get these chapters out pretty consistently, but we'll see how it goes. If I can get a chapter out a week that would be the goal. 
> 
> as always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!


End file.
